In the service: A Fall River, Mass., native, Roger Bergeron, of Colchester, enlisted in the United States Army in 1951, at the age of 19. He spent three years in the Army, including 18 months in South Korea during the Korean War. He was one of only a few selected for the Army Security Agency, or ASA, and was given top secret security clearance, he said. Bergeron was sent to Japan and then to South Korea, joining the Army Signal Corps about one mile from the 38th Parallel, which divides North and South Korea. He was a courier runner, delivering intelligence information to radio trucks close to the front line. The information was kept in satchels sealed by combination locks. He was one of two soldiers who performed the task, making five trips per day in 24-hour shifts, followed by two days off. It could be stressful, he said. He was told to travel with the windows to his vehicle down, because if the sun reflected on them, the enemy could locate it and shoot at him. Bergeron also talked about delivering chocolate and gum to orphaned children in a South Korean village that he passed through on the way to and from Seoul, the capital. He paid for the goodies out of his own pocket. “They were only kids. They weren’t fighting a war. Their parents were all dead,” he said. “I just couldn’t see not feeding kids.” He said that U.S. forces later took the children to Seoul.

Life after service: Bergeron left the Army in 1954 as a corporal, and first worked at a clothing mill in Fall River and later at Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, as well as at a gas station. He also drove a school bus in the mornings. Bergeron said he’d almost died, working three jobs and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, by the time he gave up smoking in early 1972. He suffered a collapsed lung and had lost a lot of weight, according to his doctor. He said the doctor gave him a choice — stop smoking or die — and at that point, he took out his last eight cigarettes, threw the pack on the floor and stomped on them. “I haven’t had a cigarette since 1972. I went from 82 pounds up to 140 pounds. I was eating good. The doctor, a year later, he died, 52 years old, and I’m still here going on 82.” His son and ex-wife died from smoking, he said. Bergeron lost his wife in 2010, he said, but stays active with lots of friends. After 25 years at Pratt, he retired and found jobs at United Auto Parts and Gano’s, both in Colchester, as well as the local post office. He’s a flag-bearer for the Colchester Antique Veterans, a chaplain for the American Legion Post 54, and member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Korean Veterans Association and the Disabled American Veterans.

Page 2 of 2 - Quotable: “It was kind of scary sometimes, but I made it. I survived. ... We had some good guys there.”